One by One
by Heroine of the Valley
Summary: Relena decides to get to know the pilots more..one pilot at a time!


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One By One

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I do not own Gundam Wing. Although, I wouldn't mind working for the company one day! (Can you see one of my fics becoming a real episode?)

Relena wanted to see the pilots again and try to get to know them a bit more. She practically owed them her life. They fought for her kingdom. So she set out to go look for them, starting with Heero.

"He'd be here," she said as she went to the gym, "Heero would be here for sure!" she stopped at the ladies' locker room first and changed into a blue sports bra and black spandex pants with a silver stripe on the outside and white tennis shoes. Pulling her hair back in a pony tail, she walked into the weight room, where she found him, the perfect soldier, the unstoppable Heero Yuy. 

Heero was topless, with gray sweat shorts and tennis shoes, bench pressing weights. Probably about 200 .lbs. He wasn't counting out loud. The only sound that escaped from his lips were shallow grunts and breaths. As he was about to set the barbell back on the rests, Relena ran up and pulled it up, as a spotter would do. 

"Hi Heero," she said with a smile.

"Relena?" he sat up and hit his head on the barbell.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I startle you?" she walked to the side and kneeled down. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, rubbing his head. "What are you doing here?"

"I knew you'd be here. I wanted to see you."

He put a towel around his shoulders, "is that all?"

"Want a work out partner?" she asked, folding her arms. "It's much more fun when you have someone to work out with. The time passes more quickly."

Heero almost told her to forget it, to leave him alone, but he couldn't. He fought for this girl. The girl who knew too much. The girl he was supposed to kill, he ended up having feelings for her. He ended up fighting for her and even left a teddy bear and note in her shuttle for her. That's one thing he didn't learn on his colony. How to feel. He looked at his feet and looked back up at her. Her eyes were pleading for him to be with her. He just could not say no. 

"Yeah," he said huskily. (Is it just me, or does Heero say "Yeah," a lot?)

She smiled and put her hand on his knee, "thanks. So, you pick. What shall we work on? The weights? Tennis?"

"Hmm," he mumbled and stood up. "Let's jog. I've been doing the weights long enough." He wiped the sweat off his forehead and put his towel back down.

"Okay," she said and took his hand, "sounds good."

Heero almost dropped her hand. His hand was all sweaty and hers soft and fresh. _I hope she doesn't notice how sweaty my hand is._ He thought to himself. _I should've put chalk on it first!_

They jogged around the black line in the court. Some people were playing basketball and tennis. So she wouldn't be lagging behind, Relena kept up her pace to be in step with Heero. Heero decided to slow his pace down so he wouldn't leave Relena behind him, although he kind of wish he would. It was hard, even for him, to talk and jog at the same time. He was a soldier, not a conversationalist. They jogged in silence, listening to each other pant.

"I missed you," she finally said to him as they went around the ring for the 3rd time.

Heero swallowed, "Yeah." He picked up his pace a little. _Don't give me this, Relena,_ he thought. 

Relena picked up his pace, determined to stay at Heero's side. "How long did you plan to go without seeing me again?" she asked, almost coldly.

"Relena," he moaned and then stopped running. He took her hand. "I'm…tired."

She frowned, "Oh…"

"Thanks," he said, out of guilt.

__

I knew it would turn out like this, she thought. "Well, I'm going in the sauna. You can join me if you'd like." Then walked away.

She walked into the sauna. It was empty. "Weird," she said to herself, feeling lonely. She sat down, holding a long white towel to her. She had another towel around her head. A few seconds later, Heero came in.

"Hi," he said, his voice still without any emotion.

"I didn't think you'd come," she said. She closed her eyes, "Heero, if I've done anything to…"

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her, "listen, we're both busy people." Then he felt like kicking himself and wished for the words back. _You jerk, that's not why you haven't been trying to reach her!_ He thought to himself. _Tell her the truth, man. Tell her how you feel about her. Go on, you idiot, tell her!_

"I only wanted to get to know you and the other pilots more," she said honestly, "that's all. I know nothing more than just their names. I hardly even know you but…." (I bet she doesn't even _know_ all the pilot's names!) She trailed off and looked away.

Heero sighed. They sat in silence again. Then finally, Heero said, "I missed you too."

Relena's eyes lit up, "Oh Heero…you mean it?"

He nodded, "well, I said it, didn't I?

Relena laughed and took his hand. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me again," she said, "but I had to see you."

"Glad you did," Heero gave her hand a squeeze. "I wanted to see you too." He reached his hand up to the towel around her head and unraveled it. Her damp light brown hair fell down passed her shoulders. He scooted closer to her and slid his thumb down her cheek, cupping her head. "You're…beautiful." He leaned forward to kiss her and she raised her hands up the back of his head. 

Relena laid down on the bench, bringing Heero down with her. Heero made a short sigh as he followed her. He felt so confused, so shocked and what he was feeling, that he thought of nothing more than just to kiss her more. Relena rubbed her toes over his calf while nibbling Heero's lips. Heero started to bring his hand to her towel when four girls, sisters, came in.

"Oh, sorry," the oldest girl said, "didn't know...anyone was in here…." Then she smiled and winked at Heero. She gave Relena a thumbs up.

The second oldest put her hands on the youngest who were twins. She grumbled angrily at Heero and Relena and the two youngsters tried to pull her hands off.

"I want to see what they were doing!" 

"Oh, no you don't."

Heero sat right up, "I was just about to leave. Goodbye, Relena." 

"Yeah," she said. Heero walked past the girls and into the men's locker room.

The second oldest took her hands off her younger sisters' eyes, "just what do you think you were doing?" she demanded. "I can't let my sisters see that!" she folded her arms and sat across from Relena, eyeing her warily.

The two younger girls ran to the other side of the sauna.

The oldest smiled and sat next to Relena, who was red with embarrassment. She started to put her towel around her head, her hands shaking fiercely, "S-sorry!" Relena gasped.

"Hey don't worry about it!" she whispered to her, "My boyfriend and I do that _all_ the time! It's nice to see a couple in love!" she laughed, "and I'm glad that it wasn't me who was caught!" 

Relena blushed even more and stood up.

"I'm kiddin'," the girl said, "but next time you and your boyfriend are in her, put a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door!" she winked as she patted Relena's shoulder. "He's a looker, better keep a leash on him!"

"Th-thanks," Relena stammered. She backed up to the door and nearly tripped out. "Bye!"

"Vicki," one of the younger twins asked the oldest, "what was the boy doing to her?"

"Was he going to kill her?" the other twin asked.

"Oh, girls," Vicki moaned, "I'll tell you when you're older."

"Some people," the second oldest grumbled.

"Oh come on, Carrie, it's not like _you've _never kissed a guy!" Vicki said with a laugh.

"They were kissing?" the young twins gasped in unison, "Oh disgusting."

"It didn't look like kissing to me!" one twin said to the other.

"I was certain he was trying to kill her!"

"Vicki!" Carrie shouted, "I told you we should've taken them to the park instead!"

**********************

Relena changed back into her blue jeans and shirt. "Well, at least it wasn't Millardo," she said to herself, "he'd kill Heero!" Walking out of the lockerroom, she hoped that meeting Duo would not end up in embarrassment.

She didn't see Heero anywhere in sight, he was probably gone again forever.

"Relena," Heero said, running behind her in casual clothes. 

"Oh, Heero, I'm sorry about earlier," she said.

He grinned, "don't be." He took he hands, "can I call you sometime?"

"Sure, of course." She started fishing for a pen and paper, but found no paper.

"Here," he lent her the back of his hand.

"Oh, thanks," she wrote it on his hand and drew a heart around it. "Now, don't wash that off."

He kissed her cheek, "don't worry. I'll call you soon."

**************************

Relena went to Duo's home and as she was about to knock on the door, Hilde came out. "Hilde?" Relena mumbled.

"Relena? Well, hello!" Hilde hugged her, "how ya been?"

"Good," Relena said, "is Duo around?"

"Yeah, he's in the back working on his car." She pointed behind her with her thumb. "I keep telling him to sell it, but he won't listen to me!" Hilde shook her head, "men!"

"Tell me about it!" Relena wondered if they were romantically involved, but decided not to talk about it. _I'll save that conversation for later,_ she thought.

"Well, I gotta get to the store," Hilde said, "I need to buy more peanut butter before Duo finds out that we don't have anymore!" she walked passed her, "Go ahead. Duo will be glad to see you!"

"Bye Hilde," Relena said as she left and Relena walked inside. She went to the garage to find a red and black sports car (Duo's car, incase you haven't figured that out already!), a white jeep (Hilde's car) a motorcycle, tools, soda cans and Duo's legs sticking from underneath the Cadillac. There was a radio blasting music next to Duo's foot and he was tapping his feet together and singing along.

"Yeah, Yeah…dum dum. Do, do do…mmmm," his off-key singing made Relena muffle a giggle.

"Hey Hilde," Duo said, "hand me the wrench." He stuck his hand out in the view.

Relena walked to the tools that were spread around him. She picked up the wrench and put it in his hand.

"Thanks, Hilde."

"It's not Hilde." Relena corrected.

"Relena?" Duo gasped and she heard a bang underneath the car, "Ouch!" He slid out, rubbing his head. "Wow, Relena!" He stood up and gave her a big bear hug. "What are you doing here?"

Relena smiled, pleased that Duo was being more friendly than Heero. "I just came to see you."

The friendly and funny American smiled and blushed, "Ahh, shucks…."

"I wanted to thank you for what you did. It means a lot to me," she said, placing her hand on her chest.

"Hey," Duo moaned, trying to act modest, "I didn't do it by myself. I had a little help with the other pilots…but just a little."

They talked small talk some more and then unexpectedly, Duo took her hand and kissed her on her lips. Relena's eyes widened but she didn't pull back. In fact, she couldn't even move. She only wished that Hilde wouldn't come up and start yelling at them.

After the stolen kiss, Duo stepped back and crossed his arms. "Just my way of saying thanks."

Relena nodded, "yeah…." She started for the door and then turned back to Duo. She ran her finger around his lips. Heero's kiss was more passionate, but there was something different in Duo's kiss. Maybe because it was a stolen kiss and so she grabbed the lovable Shinigami and kissed him.

"Whoa…." Duo's arms went limp and then went to her back. 

She pulled back, her hands still on Duo's jacket. 

"Damnnnn," Duo moaned, impressed and shocked. 

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly, "if Hilde…"

"Hey," Duo said, biting his lip, "I won't tell." He crossed his arms, then laughed, "there's _tons_ of girls that wanna kiss me!"

Relena laughed too, "Uh-huh. Well, I'll see ya later. Here's my number if you want to call me."

"Thanks, Relena," Duo said as he put it in his pocket. "Where did Hilde go?" he asked, laying back on the slider.

"Oh, she went to get some peanut butter," then closed the door behind her.

"Peanut butter, huh…." He moaned, going back his work, "we're out of peanut butter?!" he turned the bolt too loose and oil squirted on his face. "Aaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuugh!"

***********************

"Trowa must be at the circus," she said to herself and stepped inside of the tent. He was petting a lion.

"Hi Trowa," she said.

"Huh?" he turned and hit his head on the bar.

"Are you okay?" she cried as she ran to him.

"You startled me. Why are you here?"

"I came to see you, of course," she said. "I want to thank you and get to know you more."

"I'm a gundam pilot. I was trained to fight." He said. "And there's not much for me to tell you."

"Oh, I see," she said with a frown.

He started to pet the lion again. Relena watched in amazement as Trowa stroked the wild lion as if it was a housecat. "You certainly have a way with animals," she said, kneeling down next to him.

"They see me as my friend," he told her and then took her hand and placed it on the lion's head.

"T-Trowa," she stammered.

"It's okay," he said and then made her stroke the cat's mane. The lion purred. "See?"

Relena laughed, "wow." She looked back at him and got lost in his shiny emerald green eyes (I think he's got the prettiest green eyes!). Trowa looked into her blue eyes. 

Sliding his thumb across her hand, he gave her a short and sweet kiss on her lips and she reached her hand to his face. When the pulled back, Relena smiled. "Thank you," she said. 

"For what?" he asked.

"Everything."

"You're welcome."

She rubbed the lion's head and stood up. "Here's my number where you can reach me."

"Sure," he said, "take care."

Relena then went to the Winner mansion. She knocked on the door and Abdul answered. "Vice Minister Dorlian!" he gasped. "What a surprise!"

Relena smiled. "Is Quatre around?"

Abdul smiled and opened the door wider for her to enter, "he's upstairs. I'll bring him to you." He took her to the piano room, where Quatre, Rashid and Ahmad were trying to fix a piano. Quatre's head was underneath the hood. 

"How did this thing go out of tune so fast anyway?" Quatre demanded, observing the wires. 

"I don't know Master Quatre," Ahmad said.

"Master Quatre," Abdul announced, "you have a visitor."

"Not now, Abdul," Quatre grunted.

"Hi Quatre," Relena said.

"Relena?" Quatre gasped and then bumped his head on the piano. "Ouch!"

"Are you all right?" she asked as she came forward.

Quatre rubbed his head, "yes, so what brings you here?"

"Just came to visit you," she said.

Ahmad pressed a key. The piano was back in tune, "It works now, Master Quatre."

"Good, thanks, Ahmad."

"We might as well check the other instruments," Abdul said.

"Later," Rashid said. "Let's give Quatre and his visitor some privacy." He took Abdul and Ahmad with him and closed the door.

"Please, sit down," Quatre said, taking her arm and leading her to a comfy chair.

She sat down and he handed her a cup of tea. "It's very nice to see you again, Relena. I haven't heard from you or the other pilots in a while."

"Same here," she sipped her tea, "how are you, Quatre?"

Quatre sighed, "I _really_ wish I had a brother."

Relena looked at her teacup, "I know how you feel. It's hard having so many people look up to you." She put her cup and saucer down and walked to the piano.

"Would you like for me to play a song for you?" he asked, sitting on the bench.

"I'd love it," she said as she sat next to him.

Quatre ran his fingers over the keys, "sounds better than it did yesterday." He said with a laugh.

The music was beautiful. Relena closed her eyes and began humming. Quatre looked at her a couple times while playing. Relena opened her eyes again and looked at Quatre's fingers. They danced over the ivory keys like a couple in love. The music took her prisoner and then, before the song was over, Relena and Quatre looked into each other's eyes again and were locked together. Quatre couldn't finish the song. His hands collapsed on the keys. They leaned in closer and kissed a short, sweet and innocent kiss.

Relena moaned pleasantly and rubbed her head on his shoulder. He rubbed her back. He held for a while.

"It's so good to see you again," he told her. "I wish you'd come sooner."

"I would have, but…"

"I understand."

Relena kissed his cheek and then stood up. "I better get going."

"So soon?" he said, frowning.

"Here's my number," she said, writing it down on a sheet of music. "Call me any time."

"I will," he said and embraced her, "you take care."

Relena left the mansion. _One more to go, _she thought. She found Wufei outside a temple with other karate champions.

"Hi Wufei," she said sweetly.

"Huh?" he turned his head to her and he was hit in the head with his partner. "Oof! Hey!" 

"Sorry, Wufei," his partner mumbled.

__

Why is it that they keep bonking their heads? Relena wondered. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"Well, you did." Wufei sighed, "what are you doing here?"

"To visit you, that's all."

His new sensei, Master Ko walked beside him and cleared his throat. Wufei looked at him. "What?" he demanded.

Master cleared his throat again, "Integrity, Wufei. Respect, honor. Three words you've seem to forgotten."

"What?"

Master Ko nodded to Relena. "Well? She was Queen of the world at one time, Wufei."

Wufei walked to Relena and bowed his head with his arms to his sides. "Vice Minister Dorlian." 

"That's better," Master Ko said.

Relena smiled, "how are you, Wufei?"

"Not bad," he responded, grumbling.

Master Ko cleared his throat again.

"Oh, and how are you, Vice Minister Dorlian?" he asked, a bit more friendlier.

"Perhaps you should invite her inside, Wufei," Master Ko told him.

"I was getting to that, Master Ko," Wufei said, walking to Relena to take her arm. "Come with me, please."

He took her inside the temple and they sat down on a bright colored rug in a large room. Relena looked at the statues and pillars, "wow, it's pretty in here. Tell me, Wufei, why did you become a gundam pilot?"

"Well, I," Wufei mumbled. _Man, I don't even know!_ "Maybe the same reason why the others did. It wasn't something I was planning on doing. It just sorta, well, happened." Wufei looked at his hands in his lap, "I guess that's what Master O and Master Long told me about integrity."

"I think fighting for what you believe in is simply marvelous," she said honestly, "even though I'm dedicated to total pacifism, willing to fight for what you believe in is just incredible. I wish I was as strong as you and the others were."

Wufei blushed, "I guess it's fate."

"Yeah, fate." Relena turned her face to his. 

Wufei slowly turned his face to hers. He smiled, "What you did was remarkable too. Give yourself a little more credit." _I can't believe I'm saying this!_ Wufei thought to himself.

"Thanks, Wufei," she laid her hand over his and they leaned forward to kiss. It was abrupt and quick. Relena pulled back and put her hand over her mouth. _I kissed each pilot! I didn't mean to get to know them **that**_ _well_!

"Uh, how about a tour of the temple?" he asked, standing up quickly.

"I should be going," she said, rising her feet. "Another time, perhaps."

"Thank you for visiting. We all should get together again soon."

"Sure," Relena said. "All 6 of us. Let me give you my number."

"Thanks." I wonder how the other guys are doing," Wufei said as he led Relena out.

"I just saw them," Relena told him, "they're fine."

"Well, goodbye," they said in unison.

Relena went back to her home, sighed, and fell down on her bed, "Mission….complete."

****

End


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